Tonight is the Idaho Lottery draw and if I was to win there would be a whole heap of sharing the money.

I ran across this today and thought it appropriate for my cause.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTlgbwlkZVc&feature=related

Bears Butt

Are you thinking about buying a new RV?  Please look into the brand, model etc. very closely.  Some of them like to make things “there way” and when that happens, out the door goes generic replacement parts.  I have just found that out rather the hard way.

Several years ago we were looking into buying a nice motor home.  We looked into different brands and found that the upper end motor homes (class A variety) were made by companies in America, using American parts and employing Americans.  They were proud as heck of their quality and all of them espoused “the best of the best”.  Looking into reviews on the web, we found that most owners of them liked them very much.

When we found a local couple selling their Fleetwood Flair, my ears perked up and I researched what I could find and all looked very favorable.  We looked at it and the floor plan was “almost” perfect for what we wanted.  The length of it was just what I wanted, something over 25 ft, but under 30 ft.  It is 26 ft long and very easy to maneuver.  We talked to the bank and found out it was priced about $6,000 under blue book.  So we bought it.

The couple we bought it from were selling it because they couldn’t store it in their Salt Lake City place(s).  They were both widowers and going to sell his home and fix hers up and live in it.  She did not have anywhere to store the coach and he didn’t want to pay monthly fees.  So they decided to sell it and buy another one when they got all their affairs in order and settled and once again would be able to do the “snow bird” thing.  She was in tears when we drove it away.  She really loved that thing and all the memories they had with it.

Ok, to my point.  Last summer I noticed a small leak in the sky light over the shower.  No big deal, but a leak none the less.  I would have to address it before we began any traveling this year.  I was up on the roof making sure all vent covers etc were well caulked etc.  While checking the sky light cover caulking I saw a 4 inch crack in the sky light.  Near the center of the bubble.

More research informed me that the sky lights were made of a plastic that could not be fixed unless by a certified “plastic welder”.  I did not go there, but did try and find out if there was any other way to fix it.  On line I spend about six hours trying to find a fix it way, or to order a replacement.

This sky light, like most comes in two parts.  One on the outside of the coach.  Mounts flat against the roof and is caulked.  The second part mounts on the inside of the coach, over the shower, and it bubbles up into the outside part.  It too is caulked, but the caulking is out of sight from the viewer, between the bubble flange and the coach ceiling.  No big deal to take down or put back up.

Both of my parts are cracked at the flanges in several places and for sure there has been water getting around them both for what looks like several years.  All of the screws holding the inside bubble were rusted in half and about the only thing holding the bubble in place was the caulking.  Oh well, such is life with an older coach.

I knew I had to replace both parts and I went searching for replacements.  The parts people at Fleetwood were wonderful to work with and they even went into their wearhouse, found the part we suspected would fit my coach.  He measured his on that end, I measured mine at my end and we compared the measurments.  Sure enough, the year they made my coach they had used one of two different sky lights on their various models and mine was the one he was measuring.  Ok, fine I thought.  It’s good they have one.  How much?  Well, he says as he looks it up in the book.  $259, plus $3 handling, plus $30 shipping.  OUCH!  That’s $300 bucks!  I can’t afford that!  I’ll look on line.  I saw some for under $100.  Ok, he says, I can’t blame you, I couldn’t afford $300 either.  But just in case, the part number is #502Ou812 (not the real number).

I spent the next 3 hours searching on the web.  All these parts places that guaranteed they had my part, didn’t.  Salvage yards that claimed to have every part of every rv known to have been build since Jesus was around, didn’t.  All the standard sky lights found in every motor home in the world measured generally the same, all within 1/2 inch of both measurements, but not mine!  My rough hole opening is 16X24 inches.  Theirs are 14X22 or 18X30.  Their prices varied, but most generally were in the $150 range.

I can’t modify my rough hole opening.

This morning I woke to a light rain!  And the plastic covering I had taped to the top of the coach was laying on the ground.  I panicked to put a plastic tarp ove the top of the coach and tie it off on both ends.  And then called Fleetwood and ordered the $300 part.

Bears Butt

April 17, 2012

Today is National Eggs Benedict day.  What the heck are eggs benedict?

Of course yours truly investigated and found that eggs benedict is nothing more than Poached eggs (you read that story before) placed atop an english muffin and then covered with hollandaise sauce.  It really sounds pretty good right now, since I have not had breakfast.

But there is more to it than that.  There is also a thinly sliced piece of ham or two involved and you can put the ham under or on top of the eggs.  I would prefer it under my eggs.

Some people even put some sort of sweet candy on top of all of it….yuk!

To make the hollandaise sauce you need some white wine and of course cooking with wine is always a favorite of mine.  One cup for the recipe please!

So, there you have your menu planned for the entire day.  Three meals of eggs, ham, english muffins and wine, I mean hollandaise sauce.

Enjoy!

Bears Butt

April 16, 2012

After posting the “Quill Pens and Ink Wells”, I got to thinking about my ancestors and how they came across the wild plains to Utah.  They continued to write in their journals and I’m sure some of them wrote to folks back home.  (How those letters got carried back to the folks at home is definitely a mystery to me.  Perhaps another story.)  But what if they ran out of ink?  Then what?

So, I did some research on the issue.  One place I looked called for some weird chemicals and cautions about breathing in the powder etc.  Did my ancestors carry around those two ingredients just to make ink?  It just doesn’t seem right to me.  Perhaps they did, but I am skeptical.  Certainly, once they arrived at an established town with a drug store or what have you that carried the stuff, perhaps they would buy some.  But there weren’t any such places in 1847.

So further research lead me to what I would believe would have been the practice of the times.

They used berries, salt and vinegar.  If they wanted blue ink, they would use blueberries or other berries of that color.  Red ink…red berries.  What color ink do you want?  Gather up berries of that color.

How many berries?  I’ll answer that with, how many pages of writing are you going to write?  You will probably want to make enough ink to last a few days, or maybe you entire trip…6 months worth would probably be about a half a cup of berries.  Smush them into some sort of bowl and strain the juice through your pettycoat.  (Hey, that stained up pretty good.  Maybe you will want to dye your whole pettycoat that color!  Is this how tye-dyed began in the 60’s?)  Now to keep the color nice, toss in a half of a teaspoon of vinegar and to preserve it from molding on you, a half teaspoon of salt.  Mix it all up real good and put it in a container that has a pretty tight lid.

There you have it…ink!

As for the amount of ink you end up with, I’d say the juicier the berries the more liquid coloring you would have.  So ripe berries of the blueberry, raspberry, strawberry variety would have more juice than say chokecherry and rose hips.  But then, how would it be to get a letter from a loved one written with newly smushed chokecherry juice?  I think quite nice.

Bears Butt

April 15, 2012

HMMMM!  National Rubber Eraser Day.  Have you done your taxes yet?  I believe tomorrow is a grace day, granted to you by the IRS.

Actually this national holiday will gradually fade away.  Do they still make pencils with erasers?  We probably should be saving some of them in our secret stashes for our childrens, childrens, children.  They will someday be going through our “stuff” and will wonder just what they were used for.

Much like other things we took for granted back in the day…typewriters, quill pens and ink wells etc.

Bears Butt

April 15, 2012

Bears Butt really like candy bars…sometimes…but especially pecan logs.  A candy bar with a nugate center completely covered with pieces of pecan nuts!  MMMMM.

I don’t go out of my way to find them in the store and I don’t always buy them when I find them, but once in a while the urge to eat one over takes my better judgement and I have to have one.  Just writing this is making that urge a bit stronger.

Pecan trees are native to the United States.  Did you know that?  Me either.  But my intense research has located the place where the most pecan trees are located.  Our very own state of Georgia!  I thought Georgia was the peanut state!  And they do grow a lot of peanuts in Georgia, but they also have a bunch of pecans.  One source said they produce nearly 100 MILLION pounds of them in a year!  THAT is a BUNCH of pecans.  It’s no wonder they make pecan logs.  The same source said that in just one city in Georgia, Albany I think it said, they have over 600,000 pecan trees!

I really got involved with my research on this one and found out that pecan trees can grow really tall.  Like 130 ft tall!!!  That is 43 Yards Tall!  Can you pass a football that far?

Ok, so pecans are native to the U.S., in my research I found nothing about how they harvest all those nuts.  So, I’m assuming there are nut harvesters that have really tall ladders and climbing gear that skinny up the trees and out on the branches and pick those little bad boys.  What I also assume, is if they are out on the limbs, they would be holding on with one hand while picking with the other, so they must just drop the nuts to the ground.  It all makes sense to me.  How do they get paid?  Probably in nuts.  After all, anyone crazy enough to climb a 130 foot tall tree to pick a nut would not require a whole lot of worldly goods.  Just thinking about what the ground would look like while I was hanging with one hand in a 130 ft. tree and looking down makes me a bit dizzy.  Please someone, I need a bag of that stuff the pitchers use to grip the ball for my “holding” hand.

Pecans are full of pretty good stuff for our human bodies.  My research says they are really good to help lower our bad cholesterol levels, almost as much as medications do.  It only takes a handful of them to do as much as the medications.   So I ask, if you have a high ‘bad’ cholesterol level, why pay for medication, just eat a bunch of pecans.  They are pretty good tasting.  Watch out for the salted ones and stay away from the pecan rolls (they are mine).

So, why have I done so much research for you today?  Well, it’s National Pecan Day on April 14th!  Am I nuts?  Why hasn’t someone come up with Pecan Nut Butter?  I’m getting tired of  Peanut Butter.  I’ll tell you who is nuts!  It’s those guys that climb up and pick those pecans!  That’s who is nuts!

Bears Butt, a wealth of short term knowledge

April 2012

Maybe Friday the 13th is an unlucky day for some, but for me it is a very lucky day, and it’s only 8:45 a.m.!!!!

I just received a call from the UPS store and they say that Godwins in North Carolina has my package!  WOOPPEEEEE!!!!!!  Maybe I will have my expensive boots back after all!

Bears Butt

April 13, 2012

I had to go to town for other things and so I stopped by the UPS store and picked up a copy of the receipt that showed me who had signed for the package to the North Carolina store (boot store).  I was happy to get that.

Back home Sherry and I were relaxing after a busy day of doing whatever, when the dog had to go outside.

I opened the front door and VUELLA!  There was a box from the Godwin store in North Carolina!  MY BOOTS!!!!!!!!

They had received the boots, and packaged up a new pair and sent them back the same day!  I HAVE MY EXPENSIVE BOOTS BACK!!! YEAH!

I checked them out as best as I can in the house and promptly put them up downstairs “in a dark and non-humid climate” hanging up.  Just like the instructions said.

So, there you have the story.  Are these boots any better than the ones that failed me on the trap line?  I have no clue.  But I will be taking them into deep water tomorrow to test them out.  If they leak….you will be the first to know and the company in N.C. will be hearing from me once again, only this time for a full refund.

I promise I will also join the forum of hounds men and let them know the what fore on their “preferred” boots!

I sure hope I don’t have to bad mouth these guys any more than I have so far.  They sure seem to be good boots.  And for them to send me a new pair without question is a pretty good guarantee.  Although I’m still into the boots $170 now.

Bears Butt

Friday, April 13 (my lucky day) 2012

I probably should be holding off on this announcement until tomorrow, but I just can’t.  I love this one, because even if it wasn’t a National holiday, someone would be doing it anyway.  It happens everyday you know.

So, what is it?  Tomorrow, April 13, is not only Friday the 13th, but it is also, “National Blame Someone Else” day.

It wasn’t me.  Not me man.  I don’t know anything about it.  What are you looking at me for, look at him!  I don’t even have a key to that thing, why would you think it was me?  My job doesn’t even take me near that process.  I never forget to close the freezer door.  Soda spilled on the living room floor?  I never drink soda.  I always put the toilet seat down.  Oh, he must have forgot to put the check in the mail.  What do you mean paddle harder, YOU were the one who forgot to put the plug in the boat!  Don’t blame me for you not having enough gas to get to work.  I had the car back before midnight, you could have gotten out of bed and gone and got some.  It’s those guys at Westinghouse building these danged things.  I set the timer to turn the oven  off after 50 minutes.  The neighbor kids must have snuck into the yard and turned it on after I washed the car.  What?  I don’t even know her name!  You know if it was me I would have called you first thing this morning.

Yup!  Blame someone else today and don’t think a second thought about it.

Oh.  And some on the web say that this holiday really falls on the first Friday the 13th of the year.  THEY ARE WRONG!

Bears Butt

April 12 (almost 13th), 2012

It’s spring time in the rockies.  We are all busy with our gardens, lawns and outdoor things.  Old man winter had us all locked up in our cozy little houses and now with warm weather out we come like the ants crawling in my lawn.  What a nice time of year!

We like the sounds of wind chimes and so I want you to know how to make one that won’t cost you anything but some time.  Well, you might end up at a local thrift store or some such place to buy some of the things, but then too, you might want to empty out one of your kitchen drawers and use some of the stuff in there that you never use.

Start with a stick.  You decide on the length, girth etc.  It really doesn’t matter, but bigger is always better, right?  A really good start is to answer the question of where are you going to hang this thing when you are done.

Don’t throw that old fishing line away.  You know the stuff on your reel that you plan on taking off and replacing with some new line this year.  Remember, you lost a really nice fish last year and it was all because of that old line on the reel.  Tie lengths of fishing line around the stick at intervals only you can decide.  Some will be longer than others and that is ok, because that is how “real” wind chimes are made.

Now this is the fun part.  Anything made out of metal can be used to hang from the stick and fishing line.  Make sure the things you use can touch each other as the wind blows through them.  Forks and spoons from the kitchen drawer are wonderful little “tinklers”.  So are spend (fired, shot) rifle cartridges.  I’d stay away from knives, unless of course they are the butter knives.

Some folks will even use wood as their “hangerdowners”.  They too make a nice clunking noise in the wind.

Ok!  There you have it!  Make yourself a wind chime and impress the neighbors.  Remember, “BIGGER IS ALWAYS BETTER”!!!

Bears Butt

April 12, 2012

If you were a fish in any of the waters of Utah you probably have seen about every type of fishing bait and/or lure made.  And you probably have seen them more than once.  It’s no wonder you grub your nose into the muddy bottom seeking snails and other things that you know do not have a hook inside it.

You shy away from smelly jelly and powerbait and of course a worm is out of your diet plan as well.  But still you do get hungry and want something on the order of a smaller fish to go along with your escargot.  You mother probably did not have the time to tell you to mix up your eating habits by having one of this and then one of that as you gorge yourself.

Suddenly you are faced with something very different passing by your nose.  Was that a fish of a different color?  You feel the need to get that thing out of the lake before it causes the lake to be over run with them.  And you attack it with such a violence, you are even amazed at your abilities to slam it.

But wait!  You are now fighting for your own life.  There is a hook in your mouth and you are battling against a very strong line of some sort.  Your first thought is to break that line.  But to no avail, you are in a net and some dude is taking your picture.  A fish out of water.

Lucky for you, he lets you go back into the lake and you are safe once again.  Did you learn anything?  Of course you did and you will never chase one of those lures again.  What was it?  Check out this link and you will know!

Fishermen around the world are all the same.  Beer and fishing go together like bacon and eggs.  So it’s no wonder someone came up with this lure.

http://www.freewebs.com/nascarjackets/

Bears Butt

April 2012